We always love hearing from our brides, in hopes that it will inspire you as you plan your day.

Here is Dana’s story of their wedding experience:Since both of us work in architecture, we found ourselves being very picky about the design of the wedding venues out there. We quickly realized we were overthinking it and decided to get married in Yosemite, simply because it is a place that has always inspired us. We have returned there throughout our relationship and lives to recharge and humble ourselves. We’re both strong supporters of environmental conservation and were happy that our wedding spend would in part benefit the National Park Service.

We chose to have our wedding during the Hunter’s Moon in October, hoping the moonlight would make the granite cliffs glow and originally planned an outdoor ceremony followed by a night hike after the reception. But nature had a different plan and it poured rain on our wedding day.

Though initially vexed by the weather, mere hours before the start, our families, friends, and vendors banned together to work out a spontaneous version of the wedding. The result was an intimate experience enriched by the sound of rain, the smell of the wet forest, and shifting mists that made the day more beautiful than we could have imagined. Having our wedding in Yosemite gave an edge of wildness to everything. There were frogs leaping around us as we walked to the ceremony, and while running back to our cabin later that night we almost ran into a doe and fawn.

The next morning the storm broke and we woke surrounded by waterfalls which are typically only a springtime snowmelt occurrence. We felt that we had been given a great gift and went on a long hike with our families and friends.

Our photographer Jacki Potorke (a true outdoor adventurer herself) soldiered through the mud to get great shots. We chose to work with her because she has an ability to photograph both nature and people beautifully. Her experience shooting in the park turned out to be invaluable.